Lots of interesting free music from some of The Barn’s favorite bands in this week’s Linkafication. Van Ghost is running a pretty badass promotion to pick the first single from their latest release  at Grooveshark.  You can also win a package for Chicago’s North Coast Music Festival. Greensky Bluegrass is offering a free download of [...]

Our Symphony Sunday features was partially inspired by Cathy Richardson telling me about this event which will be broadcast this weekend Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney is looking for the best cover Our friends in The Steepwater Band have a brand new song Get well with Widespread Panic’s John Bell (Wall Street Journal) Don’t [...]

We took a week off from Linkafication last week, but that just means that this week’s is just that much linkier. The Barn’s favorite music industry crank Bob Lefsetz tears into Jon Bon Jovi, who has some misdirected hate for Steve Jobs.  And the world keeps on turning. Robbie Robertson finds a new backing band:  [...]

“The Stars Look Good Tonight” Steepwater Band’s latest single is a perfect piece of hook-driven rock, accessible without being cloying, gutsy without being super-aggressive. An account with cdbaby will get you a free download if you’re so inclined. Now they have a companion video as well — combining some good ole empty loft performance footage [...]

Jeff Massey brings the same energy and enthusiasm to a friendly conversation that he brings to the stage.  Engaging, reflexive and honest, the same qualities that make Steepwater Band music so exciting came through in this discussion.  It was a privilege to speak with him about The Steepwater Band and his role in it — [...]

Let’s say you’ve got a ton of soul, a wealth of talent and a hell of a creative streak.  You get off on loud guitars and the deep rumble of the bass.  Your music is an extension of yourself, a vehicle of expression for joy, pain, melancholy, even anger.  Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Howlin’ [...]

It is a beautiful thing when technology allows a hobbyist to put a video like this together in just a couple of hours. The author (username marc4dfan on YouTube) doesn’t have a background in video production, he just got an idea in his head and thought “maybe I could do that.”

Update 6/15/10:   Enjoy a stream of the entire show by clicking below, courtesy of Joe Perona. Solo and acoustic.   A musician has got to have pretty big stones to pull it off.  Without a band and effects for distraction, the audience can only focus on the artist, warts and all.  They are laying it out [...]

Sometimes we even surprise ourselves.  On the heels of three great shows at the Mambo Room, The Barn is preparing to bring the party to a new venue this spring. Starting in May, we cross the border into Brookfield and plan two shows at the legendary Brixie’s.  Quite simply, this venue is an institution.  For [...]